There was something beautiful in attending the biggest Mass we've ever attended: the feeling of all of these faithful people praying at once was overwhelming. The Holy Spirit was truly there, and I could feel it because I teared up. Further, I was impressed by the virtual mural behind the altar which contained the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe with a representation from each country around the world venerating her. The sheer number of bishops and cardinals attending Mass was staggering. We were always amazed by how differently especially their hats were decorated. Some looked like crowns, some had glitter, some were plain. ... Then came many of the talks, the first two were kind of a disappointment. One of them had a really poor interpreter, and both of them were not designed to be a help to broken families, only families unbroken. I was excited to hear Scott Hahn speak, although it wasn't his best, and was glad to finally see the man who inspired so many conversions (such as Brian's and Shana's). The surprise of the day was Cardinal Tagore from the Philippines who was SO funny and inspirational! I hope he is the next Pope! In our first instance dealing with disappointment of a true "pilgrimage," we were asked to get back together only a few minutes after the MOST IMPORTANT talk began. Ron Belgau created the website www.spiritualfriendship.org and it has been incredibly inspirational to many, many Catholics. The hall was standing room only. In that Shana and I have a spiritual friendship, we couldn't WAIT to hear this man speak about his story. We were at least glad to hear a bit of it, and then we had to leave. Turns out, ... "
After the formal [1 hour] presentation, we answered audience questions for
over two hours; even then, we only left because the Convention Center
staff said we had to leave; there were still dozens of people in the
room listening, and people in line waiting to ask questions." We will have to read the transcript on the website to learn more.
No comments:
Post a Comment